rather than pick out individual stocks to trade, it can often be worthwhile to trade the indices themselves, especially in times of high volatility.

for those so inclined, i attach below charts for FTSE and FTSE 250, though one might equally be tempted to trade Dow or S&P, which is significantly broader in its coverage, or even NASDAQ

for ease of reading, i have attached 1 year and 3 month charts in each instance

You'll need the female version matey..

Shortie,

Here's my GJ chart. I've been buying this since I woke up yesterday morning and saw the bottom oscillator had turned up in Asian trade overnight.

Very nice, I debated geting on the band wagon also and expect I will do once I've wound out of other positions. Bloody hefty margin though required, some 250 times stake for a 60Y bet..

I trade it with 1:200 leverage raw spread ECN with FinFX (Finland) and FXCC (Cyprus).

Edit: I made a mistake, sorry - I only get 1:100 leverage at Fin.

S&P maintain UK's AAA rating........ up yours Delors!!!

meanwhile, i'm glad i banked 60% of my dow short early this evening at about 14480 as i see it closed at 14550 - but the remainder is still nicely in the money

Cynic your " guru " ( you ) says 6121. JFTR etc

I got it totally and absolutely wrong today - made a big dent in my profit of earlier in the week. My heart over ruled my head - doh.

Good weekend all

no, guru is not me (not remotely clever enough) and what does JFTR mean as not come across that one

I'd guess - Just For The Record ?

it is as just checked on line, but no real idea why iain's post at all

Isn't the Tinternet a great place for " misunderstanding " :-)
I'm quoting your post. Putting it out there. Actually hoping I caught the bottom. Lol
I'm long from 6181 on a June contract.
That's me " out there "

indications are that both ftse and dow are now heading into a long overdue correction, and it may be that you would be wise to bank at least some of your stonking profit ..... however, as always, nothing goes in a straight line

Portugal. The new black......



Portuguese PM Coelho to address the country Sunday at 18:30

Portuguese government preparing to ask for second bailout: Anonymous official source cited on CMTV

Portuguese constitutional court rules against measures worth 1 bn euros

wall street rallied quite strongly into the close on friday night, dragging cash ftse up in its wake .... however, with fresh rumbles in the eurozone (the north korea sabre-rattling will quite correctly be ignored), is there any reason to suppose that the markets will not in fact continue their southward track?

I'm staying short of the DOW for now. We're into the new 'Earnings Season' this week, and analysts seem to expect disappointing 1st-quarter figures.

Also, I reckon that the US market can't continue to ignore what's happening in Europe - and I've been reading that Portugal (as Hilary points out above) and Slovenia (though much smaller) will be looking for a bailout.

The German DAX took a nosedive on Friday (as did other major indices of course) but one report I saw (I think on IG) talks of the DAX possibly continuing down to 7560 - that's another 100 points below where it closed on Friday.

BHunt: sorry to hear you got it so wrong - I was going to say "it happens to us all" but maybe some here are more fortunate. I've been lucky recently, since my disaster a few weeks back.

money now with mouth .... taken up a ftse short at 6274

Yen slumps, Nikkei up on bold BOJ - U.S. jobs, N.Korea weigh

TOKYO | Mon Apr 8, 2013 7:32am BST
(Reuters) - The yen tumbled while Japanese stocks and government bonds rallied on Monday as the Bank of Japan lost no time embarking on its ambitious stimulus drive, but weak U.S. jobs data and regional risks such as North Korea weighed on other assets.

European markets were likely to inch higher, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX to open as much as 0.5 percent higher. U.S. stock futures were up 0.1 percent to suggest a firm Wall Street open.

Shorting the Euro/Sterling and Wall St, another short on wall st just done